


Oh, for a Bee’s experience

by middlemarch



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen, Nurses & Nursing, Observer, patient
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 17:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10518018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: The monotony of the hospital was another injury. Usually.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Lady's Fancy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10512342) by [RedFlagsAndDiamonds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedFlagsAndDiamonds/pseuds/RedFlagsAndDiamonds). 



The other men ribbed and joshed him about it all day long but he didn’t care. He’d say his prayers fervently tonight, to the God who hadn’t forsaken him after all, for how else could he explain how Nurse Mary and Mrs. Hopkins had come to have a private consultation over his very bed? The two prettiest women he’d ever seen, the new bride all blushes, the widow with her knowing dark eyes which were so very understanding when a man couldn’t help crying from pain, both of them clustered around him, reminding him of Ma’s favorite china vase that could only hold two rosebuds without risking a crack. And then he thought of his sister Huldah’s favorite fairy story, Snow White and Rose Red and entertained himself a little trying to decide which was which. It was something to do while they spoke in hushed tones of some womanly matter that he wasn’t suppose to attend to though he couldn’t help hearing a word here and there, “enjoyable,” “ribbon” and “night” inescapable. He told himself he couldn’t help hearing—was he meant to stop his ears with his hands while Nurse Mary cleaned and redressed his injury? She glared at him a few times but her heart wasn’t in it and after Mrs. Hopkins left, her cheeks still rosy though her overall flush faded, Nurse Mary had patted his arm and told him to rest up and to take plenty of the tonic to keep the fever at bay. He followed her directions, although the medicine was bitter as gall, for he found the unbidden image of the two women, each with a red ribbon tied round her head like a crown amid the modest braids, a matching scarlet bow at their neat lace collars, was all the sweetness he needed.

**Author's Note:**

> So, how can we have the guy from Ohio as a witness to the exchange and not get his POV? The title is from the same poem as the others in this collection.


End file.
